The office is a productivity tool - by David Hoang
Amazon recently announced its plans to Return to Office (RTO) and employees have until January 2025 to report back. COVID-19 forced remote work as the norm; a digital transformation McKinsey Consulting couldn’t pull off. As the world began opening up again, many people assumed that remote work would be here to stay. The abundant remote roles suddenly moved back to onsite at specific locations. Amazon’s RTO announcement re-ignited the discourse of in-office vs. remote.
I often get asked about which is better, and I sadly don’t have a quotable answer for people. I like both work modes for different reasons. The majority of my early career roles were remote—earlier than it was the norm. I also worked at companies that were onsite in San Francisco. My life approach is to have your cake and eat it and dislike viewing things in binaries. It’s more productive to harness the spectrum. The discourse of office vs. remote is a flawed debate and not a good use of time. Instead, let’s focus on how the office can be used as a method or resource in your toolbelt.
It’s assumed that if people are in the office working, productivity will instantly increase. This alone is not true. As you can see the butts in seats do not automatically imply a productivity increase. The optics on the remote work end assume if people are working remotely, they are slacking off.
